Practical matters

29 March 2017

Visa Progress March 2017

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

Queues likely As some of you know, I’m in the process of getting my permanent visa for Mexico. Well, good news! The paperwork is almost ready, and next week – Lord willing – I will be able to go to do the finger-printing-and-document-signing to finish the process.

So – we’re very thankful!

The theory is that once I have all my paperwork, I will actually be able to get license plates for our van. As you may recall, we haven’t been able to drive the van since late January, due to the paperwork complications. So yes, it will be nice to have the van again, especially before the teams start coming! (We actually had a couple of teams in March, and it did make things compicated!)

Anyway, just wanted to give you a bit of an update. Still no visa, still no van – but I’m hoping that in a week or two, after a long line or two, I’ll have some more concrete news for you. 🙂

9 February 2017

More on Visas and Licence Plates

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 0

So far this week has been dominated by paperwork. But every once in a while, that’s just the way it has to be.

Most of it has been a matter of getting documents together for my visa process. That has meant a lot of emailing, printing, signing, packages being sent here and there, talks on the phone, visits to banks to take out money and pay this and that.

In fact, this morning I visited 6 bank machines before I found one that (sort of) worked.

No calls from the licence plate place yet, but it’s kind of irrelevant at the moment, because I don’t have the documents I would need – they’re all tied up in the visa process now.

In spite of some issues, I think the paperwork is ready to be submitted, and we can pray that the process will be finished quickly! Then we can get back to the licence plates, and have a bit of a reprieve before the rest of the family starts their visa paperwork in later in the year.

2 February 2017

If You Don’t Want Another “Licence Plate Update”, Click Away, Baby…

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 11

Seriously, if you don’t want another update on our quest to get licence plates, just move along.

You’re still here? It’s a short story anyway. I went today for my fourth visit to the applicable office, and spoke to four people there, including one new person who took some of the paperwork that I had brought, made some copies, and took my phone number. “We’ll call you in one to two weeks.”

So, what else could I do but walk home.

One to two weeks may be optimistic, depending on where our visa paperwork is at by then, so – the bottom line is, we will continue to have no vehicle to drive for a while.

As always, these things are a part of God’s good plan, as frustrating as they may seem at the time. And I look forward to having some time in which I’m not waiting in line yet again at the same place!

1 February 2017

The Ongoing Quest for Licence Plates

Jim Practical matters 2

Yesterday I joined the long line, almost an hour before opening time. Within a couple of hours, I had reached the front door, and Mayra joined me.

Before actually getting into the line to request the plates, we talked to the man at the information desk. He looked at our papers, and told us that we could use a couple copies. Also, we needed to go to a stationary store, get a magical form, fill it out, and the magical form would allow us to get the plates.

So, playing a little real-life Frogger, we dashed across the highway, got the magical form, dashed back across, filled it out, and were permitted to take a number and join the indoor line, where we could wait in cushy seats.

Finally we spoke to the man with the power, who shuffled through our paperwork and entered the information about the van into the computer.

No help today — Oh dear! It appears that we won’t be able to help you today, sir.

Hmmmmm…. can’t give you plates today. You see…. [a) excuse about the computer system] and [b) excuse about personnel available today]. But come back Thursday, and everything will be rainbows, tulips and unicorns.

So we left – me, feeling very bad for Mayra who had spent all this time on a process that wasn’t hers – to no avail.

So – what can I say? Tomorrow is another day …

30 January 2017

Keep Participating.

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 1

I must say, I haven’t been this sick (with non-migraine related symptoms – although now I have those too!) for a long time. Which, strangely enough, is something to be very thankful for. Ah, it’s just a cold or some kind of a bug, but a nasty one.

On top of that, Shari and I had the bad sense to both get sick at the same time. Silly us.

Anyway, it is rather frustrating when you’re still trying to catch up after being away. But when I’m not in bed (which I’ve had to be more than usual), I try to follow the wise advice hidden under this Coke cap. Where in English it would say “Please try again” (why, thank you for the kind invitation!), in Spanish it says “sigue Participando” – keep on participating.

Yesterday I managed to lead our morning service (I was actually doing worse health-wise than I thought I would be, but God was gracious). Other than the fogginess of the man leading, it was a good service. We’re going to run out of chairs one day soon – a good problem to have.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I’m going to go again to the license-plate-getting-place (I’ve gone over there a few times now) to hopefully complete the paperwork (with the help of our friend Mayra – I need the extra help because of our visa status, as I mentioned before), so we’ll see how that goes.

Other than all the other normal things, I’m trying to DRINK LOTS and get the rest I need. Bad bug, begone!

27 January 2017

Plates and Visas – Â¿por favor?

Jim Mexico, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise, ST Highlight 1

We’re still working on getting license plates for our van, which means that we’ve had no vehicle for the majority of the week, and won’t have one until we get some paperwork done.

License Plate - Por Favor We’re hoping to get that done soon, but it’s a bit of a challenge. Essentially, once you get your permanent resident visa, you can’t drive a vehicle that has not been nationalized. Which means you need to nationalize your vehicle (which means driving to the border) before you get your permanent resident visa.

However, you can’t get plates for your vehicle until you have a permanent resident visa. Which means … well, think about it, you’ll get the idea.

Anyway, there are some possible ways around this, none of them super-easy, of course. And according to a friend of mine, it involves lining up at 5am, 4 hours before the office opens, in order to get in before the day is over ….

Thanks to a ride from Rod Fry, who was dropping his kids off in Puebla for the day, I was able to meet up with someone to get some documents signed for our visas. So that’s a step forward. We’re getting everything finalized to be submitted, so that I can get my visa as soon as possible. If things go really smoothly, I might have it in a couple of months. Hey! Stop laughing! Just because things went that way last time doesn’t mean it will be that way this time!

Anyway, we appreciate – VERY much – your prayers as we continue to walk through the tangled web that will allow us to get our visas, and maybe even drive!

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